Want facts about U.S. energy? Here they are.

1 The U.S. leads the world in the generation of electricity from geothermal sources, making about 30% of the world's total geothermal electricity. But the overall contribution of geothermal energy is quite small, and accounts for less than half a percent of U.S. electricity generation. In northern California, dry-steam generation is used at the Geysers, flash-steam generation is employed at Coso geothermal field, and a binary-cycle system is employed in Casa Diablo geothermal field. 2 U.S. coalbed-methane (CBM) production rose to 1.5 Tcf in 2001, some 7% of domestic gas production. Between 1982 and 2001, CBM wells made a total of 11.2 Tcf. The major producing basins are the San Juan, Powder River and Black Warrior. The Appalachian, Piceance, Raton and Uinta basins also contribute production. And at year-end 2001, proved CBM reserves were 17.5 Tcf and comprised some 9.5% of U.S. natural gas reserves. The CBM resources of the U.S. are estimated at around 400 Tcf. 3 Hydroelectric plants generated about 6.5% of total U.S. net electricity generation in 2004. Although hydroelectric power is the most efficient power-delivery system and a clean source of power, available sites and environmental concerns limit its expansion in the U.S. 4 Per-capita energy consumption in the U.S. in 1950 was 36.31 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per year, at a population of 158 million. By 1981, each of the 233 million people in the U.S. consumed an average of 54.83 BOE per year. In 2000, 283 million people burned an average of 59.25 BOE apiece. People in developed countries other than the U.S. and Canada used 24.88 BOE each per year in 2000. 5 The U.S. Minerals Management Service estimates that all federal offshore areas contain 85.9 billion barrels of oil and 419.9 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of technically recoverable undiscovered resources. 6 The amount of gas in the world's marine and permafrost gas-hydrate accumulations is roughly 700,000 Tcf. However, the technology to produce gas from methane hydrates does not yet exist. 7 Alaska's North Slope fields contain an estimated 30- to 35 Tcf of natural gas resources. One option for bringing the gas to market is construction of a 3,500-mile, $20-billion gas pipeline from the North Slope into Alberta. 8 The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that between 5.7- and 16 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil are in the coastal plain area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, with a mean estimate of 10.4 billion barrels, divided into many fields. The estimate includes oil resources in Native American lands and Alaskan state waters out to a three-mile boundary within the coastal plain area. 9 Oil shales occur in many parts of the U.S., and range in age from Ordovician to Tertiary. Since 1919, cumulative production of shale oil in the U.S. has been estimated at 500,000 barrels, with most of it produced from large-scale pilot operations in the Piceance Basin. There are no shale-oil reserves at present in the U.S., but the resources range between 1.38- and 2.9 trillion barrels. The Eocene Green River formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming contains 90% of that total. 10 Natural gas in low-permeability sandstone reservoirs has been developed mainly in the U.S. and Canada. Production from 13 basins in the U.S. has gradually increased from about 1 Tcf per year in the mid-1970s to 3 Tcf in the late 1990s, representing 15% of the total natural gas production in the U.S. Proved reserves in the U.S. have increased from 12 Tcf in 1980 to 36 Tcf in the late 1990s. Most recent estimates of gas in place in tight-sand reservoirs ranges from 600- to 925 Tcf, and estimates for recoverable gas range from 200- to 550 Tcf. 11 Undiscovered gas resources in the U.S. total 732 Tcf. The Rocky Mountain region contains 318 Tcf, the greatest share of these resources. Some 42% of undiscovered resources are in tight-gas reservoirs, 48% are in conventional reservoirs, and 10% are in coalbed-methane reservoirs. 12 Coal production in the U.S. grew from 747.3 million metric tons per year in 1981 to 994.4 million in 1999. U.S. coal reserves are estimated to range between 245- and 250 billion metric tons. Coal resources add another 1.57 trillion metric tons. Coal provides about 35% of the primary energy for the generation of electricity in the world, and in the U.S. it provides about 50%. 13 More than 70% of the natural gas produced in the continental U.S. flows from wells deeper than 5,000 feet. About 125 Tcf in gas resources is estimated to lie at depths of 15,000 feet or greater. 14 The Permian Basin contains 3.25 billion barrels of estimated remaining oil reserves through 2015. Carbonate plays in the San Andres and Leonard contain more than 40% of this total. 15 During 2004, top oil-producing areas included the Gulf of Mexico at 1.5 million barrels per day; Texas onshore, 1.1 million; Alaska's North Slope, 886,000; and California, 656,000. 16 The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was established in 1975, and the first crude oil was delivered in 1977. Total storage capacity is currently 700 million barrels, and storage sites include West Hackberry and Bayou Choctaw in Louisiana and Bryan Mound and Big Hill in Texas. As of May 2006, the SPR contained 688 million barrels. Oil can be withdrawn at a maximum rate of 4.3 million barrels a day. 17 Oil provided 40% of total U.S. energy consumption in 2004, but U.S. crude oil production is now at 50-year lows. In 2004, the U.S. produced around 7.6 million barrels per day, split into 5.4 million barrels of crude oil, 1.8 million barrels of natural gas liquids and 400,000 barrels of other liquids. This compares with peak oil production of 10.6 million barrels per day during 1985. In 2005, net imports stood at 12.2 million barrels per day, nearly 60% of U.S. oil consumption. Domestic proven reserves were 21.9 billion barrels in January 2005. 18 The offshore Gulf of Mexico alone has produced more than 14.5 billion barrels of oil and 163 Tcf of natural gas since first drilling in that region. 19 The U.S. had 104 nuclear units connected to the grid at year-end 2002, the most in the world and 24% of the global total of 441 units. U.S. plants generated 20% of the nation's overall electric supply in 2004. 20 Production of gas from organic black shales in the U.S. has increased from about 70 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 1979 to 380 Bcf in 1999. Principal producing reservoirs are the Ohio Shale in the Appalachian Basin, the Antrim Shale in the Michigan Basin and the Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth Basin. The New Albany Shale in the Illinois Basin and the Lewis Shale in the San Juan also contribute. Estimates of gas-in-place in organic black shales in the U.S. range up to hundreds of Tcf, but proved gas reserves in these reservoirs are still extremely low. The ultimate recovery of gas from organic black shales in the U.S. is unknown. 21 Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports into the U.S. are projected to have totaled 650 Bcf in 2005, flat from the 2004 level. However, imports this year should reach 750 Tcf. Five terminals receive LNG at present: Everett, Massachusetts; Cove Point, Maryland; Lake Charles, Louisiana; Elba Island, Georgia; and offshore Louisiana. There is also a facility in Puerto Rico. New terminals are under construction in Texas and Louisiana. 22 The U.S. population is projected to grow from 282 million in 2000 to 300 million in 2006, to between 435- and 525 million in 2100. 23 U.S. natural gas production was 18.2 Tcf in 2005. As of January 2005, the U.S. held 189 Tcf in proven natural gas reserves. Natural gas generated about 18% of U.S. electric power in 2004 and supplied 23% of total domestic energy consumption. 24 The U.S. generated 3,976 terrawatt hours of electricity in 1999, 26% of the world total. Per-capita consumption was 14,200 kilowatt hours in 1999, a startling growth from 10,124 in 1981. 25 Ten sales of U.S. Atlantic oil and gas leases were held between 1976 and 1983. Forty-nine exploratory wells were drilled; only five discovered hydrocarbons. These wells were offshore New Jersey and were abandoned as noncommercial. Recently, the U.S. Minerals Management Service proposed a single potential lease sale in federal waters off the coast of Virginia.